Bungie's "Destiny" Scheduled For Release In 2013

A recently unsealed contract between Bungie and Activision reveals the first real details on the franchise the two companies are creating. The agreement to create "Project Destiny" was signed in April 16, 2010, so it may have been altered since then, but if not, we'll see a series of Bungie-Activision "sci-fantasy, action shooter games." The first is scheduled for release in 2013. We might also see the return of Bungie's Marathon franchise.

The contract was unsealed as part of the Activision vs. Zampella and West dispute, and indicates that Bungie is creating four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games," code-named "Destiny." A Destiny game will be released every other year, beginning in the fall of 2013. Bungie also agreed to put out four downloadable expansion packs code-named "Comet," every other year beginning in the fall of 2014.

The first "Destiny" game will be Microsoft-exclusive and will be built for the 360 as well as the next generation of Xbox, which the contract called the "Xbox 720." Later games are planned as cross-platform releases, and will be playable on the successor to the PlayStation 3 and on PC.

All the games are planned to be rated "T," and ancillary material like books and/or films (if any) will be approved by Bungie.

The document also refers to Bungie's right to devote no more than 5% of its staff to develop an action-shooter prototype dubbed Marathon while Bungie remains under contract with Activision.

So how much is all this worth? Plenty. Under the contract, Activision would also pay Bungie $2.5 million a year in bonuses between 2010 and 2013 if the studio stay on track and meets quality and budget milestones. Bungie gets another $2.5 million if the first Destiny game achieves a score of 90 or better on GameRankings.com.